A new study of the oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx, shows that some of birds’ weirdest mouth features—like extra tongue bones, a sensitive beak-tip, and fleshy “teeth” on the roofs of their mouths—date all the way back to the Jurassic Period. These features, which are still present in most living birds, hint that being extra-good at finding, grabbing, and processing food might be key to a life on the wing.

Researchers from INRAE and IFCE have demonstrated that fear-related human chemical cues influence horse behaviour through emotional contagion. A study conducted on 43 horses shows that, when exposed to chemical cues from humans experiencing fear, horses exhibit significantly higher fear responses and interact less with humans than when exposed to human odours associated with joy or to neutral cues. These findings, published in PLOS One, highlight the importance of olfactory signals in interactions between different species. Chemical communication of emotions does indeed exist, and it crosses species barriers.

A University of Missouri researcher is pioneering an innovative solution to remove tiny bits of plastic pollution from our water.

Bone fractures usually heal efficiently, but in some patients this process fails, causing nonunion. A recent study identifies Apex1 as a redox-regulated driver of fracture repair. Using genetic mouse models, researchers show Apex1 controls early Bmp2 activation and later chondrocyte maturation, coordinating callus formation, vascularization, and cartilage-to-bone transition. These findings highlight oxidative stress regulation as a promising therapeutic strategy to improve bone healing and reduce the risk of fracture nonunion.

New study shows how bacteria adapted a virus-derived injection system to recognize and attach to many different types of cells. By systematically identifying thousands of rapidly evolving receptor-binding proteins, the researchers explain how these systems can be retargeted again and again in nature by swapping the part that binds to cells. The work not only solves a long-standing mystery about how these bacterial machines function, but also demonstrates that they can be engineered to deliver proteins into specific human cells, pointing to future biomedical and biotechnological applications.

New research from the University of St Andrews has discovered that vertebrates make higher numbers of different forms of proteins from individual signalling output genes, a crucial piece in the puzzle of how all animals with a spine - including all mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians - evolved.   

Using a pioneering method they developed to directly measure viscosity in a group of cells, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers have made a surprising discovery that upends understanding of how cells move.